Port of Houston

The Port of Houston is a 25-mile-long complex of public and private facilities located near the Gulf of Mexico near Houston, Texas. The Port of Houston Authority owns and operates the public facilities located on the Houston Ship Channel, designed for handling general cargo, containers, grain, coal, and other dry bulk materials.

Expansion for coal
In 2011, pipeline transportation and energy storage company Kinder Morgan Energy Partners announced it had entered into an agreement with a "large western coal producer" to handle up to 2.2 million tons of Colorado coal annually at its Houston bulk terminal located on the Houston Ship Channel. To accommodate the additional tonnage, KMP will invest approximately $18 million to expand the facility. Unit trains will transport bituminous coal from Colorado mines to the Houston bulk facility where the cargo will be offloaded and stored before being loaded onto ocean vessels. The company expects to begin handling coal for this new contract in July of 2011. This will mark the first time that western coal will be exported from the Port of Houston.

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